When the Giants hosted the Red Sox for two games in June, they were benefactors of the ground rules: No DH in a National League park. But the Giants couldn’t avoid David Ortiz this time around, and he smashed a three-run home run to lift the Red Sox (52-39) past the Giants (57-37), 4-0. Here’s how six (mostly) good innings from Jake Peavy (5-8, 5.15 ERA) still kept the Giants winless in the second half.
The big moment
Ortiz is playing out the best farewell tour that baseball’s ever seen. He clobbered his 23rd home run of the year to seal the final score in the fourth inning.
At the plate
The Giants’ best shot at Rick Porcello came in the first inning, and they couldn’t capitalize with their best hitters. Denard Span and Angel Pagan singled to the start the game. Then came Brandon Belt, Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and three consecutive strikeouts. By the time the inning ended, the Giants stood 3-for-27 with runners in scoring position in their last four games.
Porcello didn’t even have a 1-2-3 inning until the sixth, but the right-hander suffocated the Giants with men on base. Jarrett Parker lined a base hit to begin the second inning, but was picked off after he couldn’t scamper back to first on a deep fly ball to center.
Pagan lined his second hit with two outs in the third inning, and was the Giants’ last hit until the seventh inning.
On the mound
Last season, Peavy was burned over and over again when he tried pitching through a lineup for the third time. Opposing batters hit .351 off the right-hander in their third plate appearance against him. This year, it’s been the second go-around the lineup that’s burned Peavy. The same was true on Tuesday, when Peavy pitched pretty well, but unraveled in a three-batter, fourth-inning stretch.
He allowed only three hits, the first coming after the first eight Red Sox were sent back to the dugout. No. 9 hitter Brock Holt cranked a full-count fastball for a third-inning home run that gave Boston a 1-0 lead.
The game-deciding stretch began ominously in the fourth inning. Peavy dug Dustin Pedroia into an 0-2 hole, but the former MVP worked a walk. Xander Bogaerts then lined a single to set the table for Ortiz. The veteran slugger didn’t miss the first pitch from his former teammate. Peavy tried to sneak a cutter on Ortiz’s hands, but he stayed inside the ball and drove it deep to right field for a three-run homer. That staked Boston to a 4-0 lead, and deflated a struggling Giants offense.
Peavy never allowed another runner to reach base after Ortiz’s blast. He finished six innings with more runs allowed than hits.
In the ‘pen
Javier Lopez pitched well despite retiring only three of five hitters. Hanley Ramirez reached on a leadoff single, and Holt reached on a chopper that Grant Green couldn’t handle. Otherwise, Lopez survived while facing as many hitters as he has all season.
George Kontos came on after Green’s error. He retired all three hitters he faced to round out his third scoreless appearance of the second half.
On deck
Matt Cain (1-5, 5.34 ERA) returns, both from the disabled list and to the Fenway Park mound, on Wednesday night. He threw several bullpens and three rehab starts since landing on the DL June 14, trying to heal a strained right hamstring for the second time this season. This start comes on a familiar mound for Cain. He’s the last Giant remaining from the team’s road trip to Boston 10 seasons ago. The right-hander took the 1-0 loss on June 16, 2007, allowing only a home run to Manny Ramirez. Cain is slated to face Drew Pomeranz, who’s making his first start with the Red Sox since being traded from the Padres. First pitch at 4:05 p.m. on KNBR 680.
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